Systems and methods for managing and/or facilitating return shipment of items

ABSTRACT

Systems and methods which facilitate return shipment of items, such as to provide for the return of goods from a purchaser to a merchant, are shown. Embodiments provide shipping management functionality for managing return requests, processing of return requests, authorizing returns, tracking of the processing of a return request, and/or tracking of return shipments. A shipping management system of embodiments operates to make shipping functionality and/or information utilized with respect to return shipments, which may not otherwise be readily available to the return shipper, conveniently accessible for use by the return shipper. Embodiments provide for some or all return shipping fees to be borne by the merchant rather than the return shipper.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present application is related to U.S. patent application Ser. No.62/082,393 entitled “SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR CLOUD-BASED APPLICATIONACCESS TO RESOURCES,” filed Nov. 20, 2014, Ser. No. 14/642,534 entitled“SYSTEMS AND METHODS IMPLEMENTING AUTOMATED SHIPMENT STATUS TRACKING,”filed Mar. 9, 2015, and Ser. No. 13/217,896 entitled “SYSTEMS ANDMETHODS FOR VALUE BEARING INDICIA BALANCE RESERVATION,” filed Aug. 25,2011, the disclosures of which are hereby incorporated herein byreference.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The invention relates generally to shipment of items and, moreparticularly, to managing and/or facilitating return shipment of items,such as to provide for the return of goods from a purchaser to amerchant.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The shipment of items, such as new and used goods shipped from merchantsto purchasers or other recipients, has been commonplace for years. Forexample, it is commonplace for various merchants, whether they be “brickand mortar” merchants, online merchants, or sellers through anelectronic marketplace (e.g., eBay, Amazon Marketplace, etc.), to shipgoods using a number of forms of shipping services and media, such asletters, flats, and parcels, via various shipping service providers,such as the United States Postal Service (USPS), United Parcel Service(UPS), Federal Express (FedEx), Dalsey, Hillblom and Lynn (DHL), andlocal and regional couriers With the advent of the Internet and theadvent of innumerable e-commerce merchants, not only have the number ofitems shipped increased appreciably in recent years, but so too have thenumber of shippers and recipients of such items.

Sometimes there is a need for a recipient to return the items to themerchant, such as where the incorrect item was mistakenly originallyshipped, where the item was defective upon receipt, where the recipientelects to take advantage of a liberal merchant return policy, etc. Wherethe items are initially shipped to the recipient, such a return maynecessitate a return shipment from the purchaser or other recipient backto the merchant, particularly where the merchant does not have a brickand mortar location disposed near the returning individual. Managing thereturn of such items, particularly where shipment of the item by arecipient is involved, can be difficult for a merchant. For example,merely keeping abreast of the particular items for which return has beenrequested, returned items which are in transit to the merchant, etc. canbe daunting.

Further complicating item returns for many merchants is that a number ofmerchants or online marketplaces (e.g., Amazon, Zappos, etc.) offer freereturn shipping to purchasers, such as for a marketing differentiator,to alleviate purchasers' consternation regarding engaging in ecommerce,etc. Although other merchants (e.g., smaller merchants, merchantswithout sophisticated shipment management infrastructure, casualsellers, etc.) may desire to offer similar free return shipping to someor all of their purchasers, they nevertheless may be unable topracticably provide such benefits. For example, offering free returnsmight be accomplished by including a prepaid return shipping label(e.g., a USPS shipping label having prepaid postage indicia thereon) ineach shipment. However, such prepaid shipping labels represent valuewhich, even if unused by the purchaser to return the items, is anexpense to the merchant, thus making this an option which is too costlyto implement in most scenarios (e.g., only a small portion of purchasedgoods are expected to be returned in many scenarios, thereby resultingin a large amount of unused postage value “spoiling”). Alternatively, amerchant might provide for such prepaid shipping labels in an ad hocmanner in response to purchaser requests. However, handling suchrequests and employing logistics to provide such shipping labels to thepurchasers using the tools available to merchants today results in thissolution being impractical for most merchants (e.g., the management ofrequests, generating appropriate return shipping labels, andcoordinating their being provided to the respective purchasers can be asignificant burden).

A number of systems have been developed for use in managing the shipmentof items. For example, shipping management systems, such as theSHIPSTATION shipping management system provided by Auctane LLC of AustinTex., provide functionality for the management of item orders, managingthe picking and packing of items for order fulfilment, generation ofinvoices, packing slips, manifests, shipping labels, and postage orother prepaid shipping indicia, and tracking of shipment of itemsthrough a shipping service provider. However, shipping managementsystems have generally not provided robust functionality with respect toitem returns. In particular, shipping management systems have notprovided management of return shipment requests and their processing ortracking of the return shipments themselves. Moreover, shippingmanagement systems have heretofore not provided functionalityimplementing free return shipping.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is directed to systems and methods whichfacilitate return shipment of items, such as to provide for the returnof goods from a purchaser to a merchant. Embodiments of the inventionprovide shipping management functionality for managing return requests,processing of return requests, authorizing returns, tracking of theprocessing of a return request, and/or tracking of return shipments.Additionally or alternatively, embodiments of the invention providefunctionality for facilitating the return shipping by a purchaser orother item recipient, such a gift recipient, (collectively referred toherein as a return shipper) to a merchant or other designated sourceagent, such as a returns processing facility, (collectively referred toherein as a return recipient).

In operation according to embodiments, a shipping management system isadapted to allow a merchant, or their agent, or other original shipperof items to provide for return shipping of such items by purchasers orother recipients of the items. For example, a shipping management systemmay be adapted to provide an interface for allowing a recipient torequest a return, whereby the merchant may elect to authorize the returnor not. Additionally or alternatively, embodiments of a shippingmanagement system adapted according to embodiments may provide for amerchant establishing rules for automated authorization of returns, suchas to establish that items valued over a predetermined threshold valueare provided return authorization, items shipped to or purchased byparticular purchasers, classes of purchasers, purchasers meetingpredetermined criteria, etc. are provided return authorization,particular classes of items, items meeting predetermined criteria, etc.are provided return authorization, and/or the like.

The return shipment of items by a purchaser or other recipient isfacilitated by the merchant or other original shipper, such as thoughuse of a shipping management system adapted according to embodiments ofthe invention. For example, an interface may be provided within theshipping management system whereby functionality for the generation ofreturn shipping labels, the generation of postage indicia (or otherproof of payment for return shipping services), etc. for use withrespect to particular return shipments (e.g., returns authorized by theoriginal shipper) is made available to the recipient (now the returnshipper). Such an interface may thus make such functionality, which maynot otherwise be readily available to the return shipper (e.g., anindividual or small business), conveniently accessible for use by thereturn shipper. Moreover, information utilized with respect to thereturn shipment (e.g., the particulars of the item being returned, suchas weight), which are available in or to the shipping management system,may be utilized by the aforementioned functionality to thereby furthermake the return process more convenient to the return shipper.

Return shipment functionality provided according to embodiments of theinvention may make the foregoing generation of shipping labels and/orpostage indicia available to the return shipper, whereby the returnshipper makes payment for any fees involved, or some portion thereof(e.g., by direct credit card or automatic check conversion, such asusing an automated clearing house (ACH) transaction). However,embodiments of the invention provide for some or all such fees (e.g.,the shipping service provider fees, such as return postage) for suchreturn shipping by a return shipper may be borne by the merchant (nowthe return recipient) according to embodiments herein. For example, ashipping management system may be adapted to allow the return shipper ofa return authorized by the return recipient to generate a shipping labelon behalf of the return recipient (e.g., utilizing a prepaid postageaccount of the merchant/return recipient), thereby providing practicablefree return shipping from the purchaser/return shipper's point of view.Such operation allows even a small merchant to provide servicescompetitive with much larger merchants in a way which is manageable anddoes not require generation of large amounts of unused postage.

The return shipping management provided according to embodiments of theinvention is not limited to the aforementioned exemplary return shippingrequest management and return shipping approval management. For example,return shipping management functionality for managing returns mayprovide monitoring of postage indicia or shipping labels generated by areturn shipper using the merchant/return recipient's account to confirmthat the postage is actually utilized. If it is determined that thepostage for return shipping has not been utilized, such as within somereturn shipping window of time, a shipping management system adaptedaccording to embodiments of the invention may initiate refund processingto allow the merchant/return recipient to recover the otherwise unusedpostage value. Additionally or alternatively, embodiments may providereporting to the merchant/return recipient, such as to allow themerchant to monitor the extent of return shipping postage valueauthorized and/or actually generated, to monitor use/lack of use ofgenerated return postage, to monitor the items designated for return, totrack return shipments while in route by the shipping service providers,to monitor receipt of return items, etc., and/or to analyze dataassociated with any or all of the foregoing to provide robust reportingand analysis with respect thereto.

The foregoing has outlined rather broadly the features and technicaladvantages of the present invention in order that the detaileddescription of the invention that follows may be better understood.Additional features and advantages of the invention will be describedhereinafter which form the subject of the claims of the invention. Itshould be appreciated by those skilled in the art that the conceptionand specific embodiment disclosed may be readily utilized as a basis formodifying or designing other structures for carrying out the samepurposes of the present invention. It should also be realized by thoseskilled in the art that such equivalent constructions do not depart fromthe spirit and scope of the invention as set forth in the appendedclaims. The novel features which are believed to be characteristic ofthe invention, both as to its organization and method of operation,together with further objects and advantages will be better understoodfrom the following description when considered in connection with theaccompanying figures. It is to be expressly understood, however, thateach of the figures is provided for the purpose of illustration anddescription only and is not intended as a definition of the limits ofthe present invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING

For a more complete understanding of the present invention, reference isnow made to the following descriptions taken in conjunction with theaccompanying drawing, in which:

FIG. 1 shows a high level block diagram of a system adapted according toconcepts of the present invention; and

FIG. 2 shows a high level flow diagram of operation of a shippingmanagement system adapted according to concepts of the presentinvention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

FIG. 1 shows an embodiment of a system (system 100) adapted tofacilitate return shipment of items, such as to provide for the returnof goods from a purchaser to a merchant, according to concepts of thepresent invention. Shipping management system 111 of system 100 may beoperable to provide various functionality associated with the processingand shipment of various items. Shipping management system 111 ofembodiments may, for example, provide functionality for the processingand shipment of various items by a merchant or other shipper to apurchaser or other recipient as well as for the processing and returnshipment of such items by the purchaser or other recipient to themerchant or other original shipper. Such functionality providedaccording to embodiments of shipping management system 111 includesfunctionality for managing return requests, processing of returnrequests, authorizing returns, tracking of the processing of a returnrequest, tracking of return shipments, generating return shippinglabels, generating return postage indicia, and/or the like.Additionally, embodiments of shipping management system 111 may providefunctionality for the automation of tasks associated with the shipmentof items, including the management of item orders, managing the pickingand packing of items for order fulfilment, generation of invoices,packing slips, manifests, shipping labels, and postage or other prepaidshipping indicia, and/or tracking of shipment of items through ashipping service provider. For example, shipping management system 111may comprise some or all of the functionality of a shipping managementsystem, such as the SHIPSTATION shipping management system provided byAuctane LLC of Austin Tex., adapted to further provide for the returnshipment of items according to the concepts herein. In particular,embodiments of shipping management system 111 provide a multi-carriershipping management system capable of providing shipping functionality(e.g., rating, shipping indicia generation, packing list printing,shipping label printing, tracking, carrier pickup request, manifestprinting, account management and payment, etc.) for a plurality ofshipping service providers (e.g., the United States Postal Service(USPS), United Parcel Service (UPS), Federal Express, DHL, localcouriers, etc.).

The illustrated embodiment shows a cloud-based implementation ofshipping management system 111. For example, shipping management system111 may comprise a cloud-based deployment of a multiuser applicationwhich is stored and executed by computing equipment disposed in the“cloud” of network 110. Accordingly, system 100 of the illustratedembodiment includes network 110 in which shipping management system 111is present. Shipping management system 111 may, for example, comprise asystem providing various desired functionality such as in the form ofsoftware as a service (SaaS), infrastructure as a service (IaaS),platform as a service (PaaS), unified communications as a service(UCaaS), etc.

It should be appreciated that although a cloud-based applicationenvironment is shown in the embodiment of FIG. 1, embodiments of thepresent invention may be implemented using additional or alternativeconfigurations, such as using one or more locally disposed applications,using a distributed application topology, etc. Similarly, it should beappreciated that the “cloud” environment associated with network 110 maycomprise applications, systems (e.g., postage system 112, shippingservice provider system 113), devices, etc. (e.g., storage 114) inaddition to shipping management system 111, one or more of which may beutilized by or otherwise operable with shipping management system 111for providing functionality as described herein.

Shipping management system 111 may comprise computer executable codeexecuting on one or more processor-based systems (e.g., web servers)deployed in network 110. Network 110 of the illustrated embodimentprovides communication links facilitating the communication betweenvarious systems and components of system 100, such as user devices120A-120D and shipping management system 111. Accordingly, network 110may comprise any number of network configurations, such as the Internet,an intranet, the public switched telephone network (PSTN), a local areanetwork (LAN), a metropolitan area network (MAN), a wide area network(WAN), a cellular network, a wireless network, a cable transmissionnetwork, and/or the like. The communication links between the userdevices and the other nodes of system 100 (e.g., shipping managementsystem 111, postage system 112, shipping service provider system 113,computing resources 130A-130D, and other ones of user devices 120A-120D)may comprise wired links (e.g., as illustrated for user devices 120A and120B) or wireless links (e.g., as illustrated for user devices 120C and120D), as well as combinations thereof. One or more interfaces, such asmay comprise appropriate application programming interfaces (APIs), maybe included in or otherwise provided with respect to shipping managementsystem 111 to provide data exchange and/or other functionality describedherein between shipping management system 111 and other applications,systems, devices, etc. of system 100 (e.g., postage system 112, shippingservice provider system 113, and/or user devices 120A-120D).

Postage system 112 may comprise one or more processor-based systems(e.g., web servers) operable to provide prepaid postage account andpostage indicia generation services (e.g., to generate postage indicia,shipping labels, etc. acceptable by the USPS and/or other shippingservice providers). For example, postage system 112 may comprise one ormore server of the online postage service offered by Stamps.com Inc.Various individuals (shippers, purchasers, etc.) and/or other entities(e.g., business entities, merchants, etc.) may maintain an account withrespect to postage system 112 facilitating the generation of postageindicia, whether individually, in batch, in combination with otherdocumentation (e.g., shipping labels, bills of lading, manifests,customs documents, etc.), and whether directly by the account holder orindirectly, such by operation of shipping management system 111. Prepaidvalue associated with such accounts may be stored by, or in associationwith, postage system 112, such as within a postage security device(PSD). Additional or alternative information may be stored by, or inassociation with, postage system 112, such as user credentials utilizedin validating users for account access, usage logs for accounting and/orfraud prevention/detection, rating information for use in shippingservice rate determinations, etc.

Shipping service provider system 113 may comprise one or moreprocessor-based systems (e.g., web servers) operable to providefunctionality with respect to shipping services provided by a shippingservice provider. For example, shipping service provider system 113 maycomprise one or more server associated with the USPS providing aninterface for accessing tracking data with respect to shipments made viaUSPS provided shipping services. Accordingly, various individuals(shippers, intended recipients, etc.) and/or other entities (e.g.,businesses, merchants, etc.) may utilize tracking numbers and/or otherinformation to access shipment tracking information throughout theshipment of items by the shipping service provider.

Functionality in addition to or in the alternative to the aforementionedpostage generation services provided by postage system 112 and theaforementioned shipment tracking services provided by shipping serviceprovider system 113 may be provided by these and/or one or more othersystems of system 100 (not shown), according to embodiments. Forexample, functionality may be provided by one or more servers (e.g.,manufacturers' systems, distributors' systems, product database systems,etc.) to provide information relevant to shipping various items (e.g.,weight information used to determine shipping service rates, itemcontent information used to determine shipping services available foruse with respect to particular items, such as in the case of hazardousmaterials, package size information used to determine shipping servicerates and/or compatibility with respect to particular items, etc.). Itshould be appreciated that the functionality provided by various serversand/or other systems of the cloud environment of system 100 ofembodiments is not limited functionality directly related to themanagement of the shipment of items. For example, one or more serversmay be present in the cloud environment which are operable to provideonline ecommerce sites (e.g., online merchant stores), electronicmarketplaces (e.g., eBay and Amazon Marketplace), etc.

Storage 114 shown in the illustrated embodiment disposed in the cloudenvironment of network 110 may, for example, comprise various forms oftangible, non-transitory computer readable media. For example, storage114 of embodiments may comprise random access memory (RAM), read onlymemory (ROM), flash memory, disk memory, magnetic memory, opticalmemory, etc. Storage 114 may comprise a storage array or other storagesystem, such as a redundant array of independent disks (RAID) array, astorage area network (SAN), a network attached storage (NAS) array,and/or the like. Such computer readable storage may be utilized to storevarious information, including program code of shipping managementsystem 111, program code of client applications utilized with respect toshipping management system 111, postage system 112, and/or shippingservice provider system 113, data utilized by and/or with any or all ofshipping management system 111, postage system 112, shipping serviceprovider 113, and their client applications, etc. Portions of storage114 may comprise a part of one or more systems of the cloud (e.g.,shipping management system 111, postage system 112, and/or shippingservice provider system 113) and/or may be separate from such systems(e.g., provided as an independent database system).

User devices 120A-120D of embodiments comprise processor-based systemsoperable under control of one or more instruction set (e.g., software,firmware, applet, etc.) adapted to cooperate with shipping managementsystem 111 to provide desired functionality, such as the aforementionedexemplary shipping management functionality. For example, user devices120A-120D may comprise servers and/or terminals in the form of one ormore computer, workstation, kiosk terminal, portable processor-baseddevice, personal digital assistant (PDA), smartphone, etc. Suchprocessor-based systems may comprise a central processing unit (CPU)(e.g., a processor from the PENTIUM or CORE line of processors availablefrom Intel Corporation), memory (e.g., RAM, ROM, flash memory, diskmemory, optical memory, etc.) storing the aforementioned one or moreinstruction set and/or other data used herein, and appropriateinput/output circuitry and devices (e.g., network interface card (NIC),keyboard, digital pointer, display screen, peripheral interface,microphone, speaker, wireless interface, etc.). It should be appreciatedthat, although the illustrated embodiment shows a representative exampleof the number and configuration of user devices as may be utilized withrespect to system 100, the concepts of the present invention are notlimited to application to the particular number or configuration of userdevices shown.

User devices 120A and 120B of the illustrated embodiment comprisecomputer systems having a processor, memory, and input/output to enableinteraction with shipping management system 111 for providing at leastsome portion of functionality available through operation of system 100.User device 120A may, for example, be configured for use by a merchantor other shipper to operate with an electronic commerce or marketplacesystem of the cloud environment to offer items for sale and/or withshipping management system 111 for managing orders of such items,outbound shipments of the items of such orders, and return of items bypurchasers or other recipients thereof. Accordingly, the illustratedembodiment of user device 120A includes a number of computing resources130A, 130C, and 130D, as may be utilized in facilitating suchfunctionality. Correspondingly, user device 120B may, for example, beconfigured for use by a purchaser or other acquirer/recipient of an itemto operate with an electronic commerce or marketplace system of thecloud environment to purchase items and/or with shipping managementsystem 111 for requesting and processing return shipment of variouspurchased or otherwise acquired items. Accordingly, the illustratedembodiment of user device 120B includes computing resource 130B, as maybe utilized in facilitating such functionality. As will be appreciatedfrom the discussion which follows, the return shipment of items isfacilitated according to embodiments to be convenient to the returnshipper, preferably utilizing information already available in or toshipping management system 111, thereby accommodating utilization ofless computing resources (e.g., without a scanner, scale, etc.) by areturn shipper user device. Of course, such user devices may comprise orotherwise be in communication with any number of computing resources, asmay or may not be utilized through operation of various embodimentsherein.

Consistent with the foregoing, user device 120C of the illustratedembodiment comprises a tablet device having a processor, memory, andinput/output to enable interaction with an electronic commerce ormarketplace system of the cloud environment and/or shipping managementsystem 111 for providing at least some portion of functionalityavailable through operation of system 100. User device 120D of theillustrated embodiment comprises a smartphone having a processor,memory, and input/output to enable interaction with an electroniccommerce or marketplace system of the cloud environment and/or shippingmanagement system 111 for providing at least some portion offunctionality available through operation of system 100. Such userdevice configurations may be particularly well suited for use bypurchasers or other recipients of items herein. Of course, such userdevices may be utilized by a merchant or other shipper to provide somefunctionality as described herein.

Irrespective of the particular configuration of the user deviceutilized, access to functionality of shipping management system 111 byan item recipient facilitated through operation of user devices inaccordance with embodiments herein provides convenience and a higherlevel of user satisfaction in association with transactions involvingthe respective merchants. In particular, operation in accordance withembodiments of the invention enables the recipient to perform functionsthat the recipient otherwise does not possess the infrastructure to do,utilize information regarding the item and/or order available to theshipping management system which the recipient would otherwise berequired to obtain and/or input to implement the operations, etc.

User devices 120 (e.g., user devices 120A-120D) of system 100 ofembodiments comprise one or more client applications, such as forinteracting with shipping management system 111 to provide operation asdescribed herein. For example, user devices 120 may comprise a userinterface client application operable to facilitate user interactionwith shipping management system 111. Such user interface clientapplications may comprise a web browser (e.g., INTERNET EXPLORER, GOOGLECHROME, or FIREFOX) hosting a client applet associated with shippingmanagement system 111 and operable within the web browser. Thus, a usermay interact with shipping management system 111 via a client appletexecuting within a user interface client application. Additionally oralternatively, user devices 120 may comprise one or more otherapplications for facilitating operation as described herein. Forexample, user devices 120 may comprise a mail client (e.g., OUTLOOK,POSTBOX, etc.), a short message service (SMS) client, a social mediaclient (e.g., FACEBOOK, TWITTER, etc.), and/or the like for receivingmessages relevant to operations herein. For example, messages deliveredusing such client applications may comprise shipment notifications,return authorizations, tracking status reports, etc. The messages mayinclude active components operable to cause the user device to interactwith functionality of other systems, such as shipping management system111, such as to request tracking information, request returnauthorization, generate and print return shipping labels, etc., asdiscussed in further detail below.

As illustrated with respect to user devices 120A and 120B, variousperipherals and other computing resources useful in providingfunctionality available through operation of system 100 may be coupledto or otherwise in communication with user devices, or other nodes ofsystem 100, of embodiments. For example, computing resources, such asone or more printer (e.g., thermal printer, ink printer, laser printer,etc.), imaging device (e.g., optical scanner, barcode scanner, handheldscanner, camera, biometric sample scanner, etc.), scale (e.g.,electronic scale, digital scale), memory device (e.g., optical diskdrive, hard disk drive, solid state disk drive, etc.), and/or the like,may be provided for use with any or all of the foregoing processor-basedsystems according to embodiments herein. Computing resources 130A and130B, shown in the illustrated embodiment as printers (e.g., printer forprinting proof of payment indicia, bills of lading, manifests, receipts,shipping labels, etc.) are shown as being coupled to user devices 120Aand 120B, respectively. Similarly, computing resource 130C, shown as ascale (e.g., an electronic scale for weighing items for shipping), andcomputing resource 130D, shown as an imaging device (e.g., a scanner forobtaining images of shipping items, for scanning barcodes, for scanningaddresses or other shipping item information, etc.), are shown as beingcoupled to user device 120A of the illustrated embodiment. Of course,configurations and deployments of computing resources different thanthat shown may be utilized according to embodiments of the invention.

Operation according to embodiments of shipping management system 111 toallow a merchant, or their agent, or other original shipper of items toprovide for return shipping of such items by purchasers or otherrecipients of the items, as well as to provide management functionalitywith respect to return shipments, is shown in flow 200 of FIG. 2. Itshould be appreciated that various functionality described below withrespect to the exemplary embodiment of flow 200 may be provided alone orin different combinations according to alternative embodiments of theinvention. Moreover, such functionality may be provided in accordancewith the concepts of the present invention by other means that theillustrative shipping management system described herein.

At block 201 of the illustrated embodiment of flow 200, a request forreturn authorization is made. It should be appreciated that such arequest may be made by a purchaser or other recipient of an item, suchas where the item is defective, does not meet the recipient'sexpectations, or the recipient is merely availing themselves of amerchant's liberal return policy. Such a request for returnauthorization may be ad hoc, on an order by order or item by item basis.Additionally or alternatively, requests for return authorization may bedone in batch or otherwise grouped. For example, a recipient may requestreturn authorization for items from several different orders, fromseveral different merchants, etc. Additionally or alternatively, arequest for return authorization as provided at block 201 of embodimentsmay not comprise a “request” from a purchaser or other recipient of anitem, but rather may comprise another form of initiation of processingfor return authorization (e.g., automated processing of returnauthorization for items, purchasers, shipments, etc. meeting criteriafor return shipment), as discussed in further detail below.

The return shipment of items to the merchant or other original shipperby a purchaser or other original recipient is facilitated according toembodiments though use of a shipping management system adapted accordingto embodiments of the invention. Accordingly, shipping management system111 may provide an interface to return request functionality, allowing arecipient to initiate (e.g., using an appropriate one of user devices120) the request for return authorization of block 201. In someembodiments, a communication (e.g., an order confirmation, a shippingnotice, a customer service communication, etc.) provided by or on behalfof the merchant may include a link (e.g., a uniform resource locator(URL), network address, etc.) which, when selected by a user, causes theuser device to interact with the appropriate functionality of shippingmanagement system 111. Embodiments may additionally or alternativelyprovide for a user independently directly accessing the appropriatefunctionality of shipping management system 111 for facilitatingoperations associated with return shipments or otherwise related toitems shipped by a corresponding merchant.

A request for return authorization is preferably associated with aparticular merchant or other shipper and with an order fulfilled by thatmerchant or shipper. For example, a return request link provided to therecipient may include unique or substantially unique (e.g., unique inthe relevant operation of the shipping management system, althoughperhaps not unique at large) information from which shipping managementsystem 111 identifies the return request with a particular merchantand/or order, thereby facilitating access to information regarding theitem(s) requested to be returned, the time span (order date, deliverydate, etc.) the item(s) have/has been out, the purchaser and/or otherrecipient of the item(s) (possibly including historical information,such as previous purchases and/or returns), the address from which thereturn is to be made, etc. Where a recipient directly accesses returnauthorization request functionality of a shipping management system, therecipient may provide information such as order number, merchantidentification, purchaser identification, and/or the like to facilitateidentification of the merchant and order for which the return is beingrequested.

It should be appreciated that the requests for return authorization neednot be initiated by a purchaser or other recipient, according toembodiments of the invention. For example, a merchant may wish topre-establish return authorization for some or all items of orders.Accordingly, the request for return authorization of block 201 ofembodiments may comprise the merchant or other shipper requesting, orotherwise invoking, analysis for determining whether returns are to beauthorized. Such a merchant based return authorization may be processedat various times, such as prior to shipment and/or delivery of the itemsto the recipient, after shipment and/or delivery of the items to therecipient, in response to the occurrence of an event (e.g., particularinteraction with the recipient, upon notification of a manufacturer'srecall of an item in the order, etc.). Merchant initiated returnauthorization may be utilized to provide information regarding theavailability of return shipping to the recipient, such as by including alink (e.g., as described above) or other information within an orderacknowledgement communication, a shipping notification communication, ashipment tracking information communication, etc., as may be provided tothe recipient by the merchant or other shipper of items.

When a request for return authorization has been made, such as utilizingthe aforementioned links and/or direct access to the shipping managementsystem by the recipient, the corresponding merchant may elect (whethermanually or through application of automated rules) to authorize thereturn or not. Accordingly, at block 202 of the illustrated embodimentof flow 200, information regarding the return request is analyzed for adetermination regarding authorizing the requested return or not. Forexample, the return request and/or other information (e.g., some or allthe order, item, and purchaser information available to shippingmanagement system 111) relevant to or otherwise useful in the returnauthorization may be analyzed for determining whether or not toauthorize the return of the item.

In accordance with embodiments of the invention, the merchant mayestablish return authorization rules, such as to designate particularpurchasers, purchasers meeting predetermined criteria, particular items,particular threshold values of items, particular categories or types ofitems, items or orders meeting predetermined criteria, particularecommerce sites or marketplaces through which items are purchased,particular coupon or offer codes used when items are ordered, etc.,whereby items or orders may be analyzed to determine if the attributesof one or more such rule are met for automated authorization of returns.A merchant may, for example, create a return authorization rulesdatabase in storage 114, whereby information regarding the returnrequest, the item(s) to be returned, the order(s) associated with theitem(s), the purchaser or other recipient, etc. are analyzed withrespect to the return authorization rules to provide an automated returnauthorization determination. The items or orders appropriately meetingthe attributes of the rule(s) may be identified for being providedreturn authorization in operation at block 202 of embodiments of theinvention.

Although the foregoing exemplary return authorization analysis isdescribed with respect to automated, rules-based authorization,embodiments of the invention may implement additional or alternativemeans by which to return authorization analysis. For example, merchantpersonnel may review some or all return requests, orders, items, etc.(e.g., requests falling outside of the rules of a return authorizationrules database, requests meeting particular criteria for manualverification of return authorization after application of applicablereturn authorization rules, where no return authorization rules havebeen established, etc.) to determine if return authorization is to beprovided.

At block 203 of the illustrated embodiment, the results of the analysisperformed at block 202 are utilized to determine whether the requestedreturn is authorized or not. The return authorization determination,particularly automated rules-based determinations, may be reviewed orotherwise vetted prior to acting upon the determination at block 203.For example, merchant or other shipper personnel may review some or allautomated return authorization determinations to override suchdeterminations (whether authorizing or not authorizing returns) inappropriate situations.

If it is determined that return authorization is not to be provided,processing according to the illustrated embodiment proceeds to block204, wherein notification of the return not having been authorized isprovided. For example, the aforementioned interface provided byembodiments of shipping management system 111 may operate to presentsuch a notification to the requester, such as in real-time in responseto the request, during a subsequent session where the requester accessesfunctionality of shipping management system 111, etc. Additionally oralternatively, such notification may be transmitted to the requesterand/or others, such as using email, SMS, social media, etc. Thenotification may, for example, include information regarding thedetermination that the item or order is not eligible for return,information regarding why it was determined that a return was notauthorized, information regarding alternative actions the requester maytake with respect to the requested return (e.g., providing manufacturercontact information for direct return or technical support), etc.

It should be appreciated that denial of return authorization accordingto embodiments of the invention may not mean that the recipient(putative return shipper) may not return the item, but rather thatreturn shipment will not be free to the recipient (i.e., the merchant orother putative return recipient will not bear the cost of returnshipping). Accordingly, the notification provided at block 204 ofembodiments may additionally or alternatively include informationregarding alternative actions the requester may take with respect to therequested return shipment document generation. For example, thenotification of the return not having been authorized may providemanufacturer contact information for returning the item(s) directly tothe manufacturer (e.g., rather than returning the item(s) to themerchant), provide information regarding technical support to attempt toresolve the issue prior to authorizing return of the item(s) (e.g.,operation of embodiments may fail a return request until recordsindicate one or more pre-requisite, such as attempting technical supportresolution, has been attempted), provide information facilitating thereturn of the item(s) at the recipient's expense (e.g., provide returnshipment address and/or a return materials authorization (RMA) numberwhere the return of the item(s) is permitted, although return postage isnot to be borne by the merchant), etc. Where such return of item(s) ispermitted, although the merchant has not authorized postage and/or othercosts at their expense, processing according to some embodiments mayproceed from block 204 to block 205 to facilitate return shipping,albeit at the return shipper's expense. For example, operation may beperformed with respect to such return shipments as set forth below,except that generation of shipping documents having prepaid postage orotherwise imposing return shipping expenses upon the merchant (putativereturn recipient) is omitted/prevented.

If, however, it is determined that return authorization is to beprovided, processing according to the illustrated embodiment proceeds toblock 205, wherein further processing with respect to the requestedreturn is performed. For example, embodiments of the invention operatenot only to provide management with respect to return authorizationrequests, but additionally or alternatively provide operation tofacilitate the return shipment of the item(s) to be returned. Thefurther processing provided according to embodiments may operate tofacilitate such return shipment. It should be appreciated that approvalof return authorization according to embodiments provides for the returnshipment being free to the recipient, or at least the full cost is notborne by the recipient or other putative return shipper, (e.g., themerchant or other putative return recipient will bear the cost of returnshipping).

The return authorization request management functionality of shippingmanagement system 111 may provide operation to aid in timely returnauthorization determinations. For example, logic of shipping managementsystem 111 may operate to track return requests from their initiation bythe respective recipients through approval or denial by the respectivemerchants, such as to ensure all requests are acted upon. Embodimentsmay operate to provide reminder messages, status update information,etc. to either or both merchant/shipper personnel and the requester.

It should be appreciated that operation to determine whether returns areto be authorized, whether for an order, item, purchaser, etc., (e.g.,processes of blocks 201, 202, and/or 203) may be made at various times.For example, a return authorization determination may be made afterdelivery of a shipped item to a recipient, such as in response to an adhoc return authorization request by the recipient. Additionally oralternatively, a return authorization determination may be made prior toa return request being made by a recipient, such as prior to theordering of items by the purchaser, at the time or ordering items by thepurchaser, at the time of fulfillment or shipment of the order or itsindividual items, and combinations thereof. Such pre-establishment ofreturn authorization may be useful in providing advance notification ofthe availability of returns being facilitated according to embodimentsof the invention, such as to promote this feature in a listing of termsfor corresponding items in an electronic marketplace or electroniccommerce site and/or to provide notification to a purchaser early in thetransaction (e.g., in an order conformation communication, a shippingnotice communication, etc.).

At block 205 of the illustrated embodiment, a return authorization statedesignation is provided with respect to an order, or one or more itemsthereof, associated with the request for which return authorization hasbeen granted. For example, an order record of a merchant order database(e.g., stored in storage 114) may be updated to indicate that particularitems and/or orders have been authorized for return. Such informationmay be utilized, for example, in generating reports regardingoutstanding return merchandise for a merchant, tracking the status ofreturns, verifying or validating subsequent requests related to thereturn (e.g., a request for return shipment documents, as discussedbelow), and/or the like.

Additionally or alternatively, information for facilitating returnshipping of the items for which return authorization has been granted isestablished in operation at block 205 of embodiments. For example, rateingredients (i.e., information from which a return shipping rate, suchas USPS postage rates, is determined) for the authorized return may beestablished. Such rate ingredients may include information available toor stored by shipping management system 111 (e.g., in an order databaseof storage 114), such as the weight of items being returned, the addressof the return shipper (e.g., the address to which the item wasoriginally shipped by the merchant), shipping media information (e.g.,size, weight, measurements, etc. of reusable shipping media used tooriginally ship the item(s) to the recipient), etc. The rate ingredientsmay additionally or alternatively include information which is not partof the original order information. For example, the rate ingredients mayinclude information regarding the particular item(s) being returned(e.g., a subset of the items of the original order), such as may beprovided in the return authorization request. Likewise, the rateingredients may include information regarding the particular shippingservice to be utilized with respect to the return shipment, as may beprovided or selected by the merchant or other shipper of the order. Forexample, although an order may have originally been shipped to arecipient using a first shipping service (e.g., an expedited shippingservice, such as Express Mail or overnight service), the return shipmentmay be provided utilizing a second shipping service (e.g., an economyshipping service, such as parcel post or ground service), such as toreduce return shipping costs where completing the return to the returnrecipient (e.g., merchant or other original shipper) is not timecritical. Similarly, although an order may have originally been shippedto the recipient using a first shipping service provider (e.g., FedEx orUSPS), the return shipment may be provided utilizing a second shippingservice provider (e.g., USPS, FedEx, or UPS), such as to facilitatereturn shipment by the return shipper (e.g., purchaser or originalrecipient).

Information for facilitating return shipping of items is not limited tothe aforementioned rate ingredients. Embodiments of the invention mayadditionally or alternatively operate to establish information (e.g., aunique or substantially unique return identifier, RMA number, etc.) foridentifying the return authorization (e.g., return identificationinformation), such as for use in identify and/or manage the particularreturn items, providing a link to rate ingredients and/or otherinformation for the return, etc. Likewise, embodiments of the inventionmay operate to establish information regarding an expiration of thereturn authorization (e.g., return expiration information). For example,although requesting a return authorization, individuals will sometimesnevertheless decide not to return the item(s). Accordingly, anexpiration time or window in which the return authorization is valid maybe established. Establishing such a return authorization expiration maybe particularly useful in preventing or eliminating stale returns and/ormanaging return shipping value indicia (e.g., pre-paid postage indiciagenerated for return shipping, as discussed below).

Processing for securing and/or facilitating validating subsequentutilization of a return authorization, and/or information forfacilitating return shipping of items associated therewith, may beprovided according to embodiments of the invention. For example,substantially unique return identifier information or other returnidentification information (i.e., information utilized to identify thereturn authorization to shipping management system 111) may be digitallysigned, uniquely or substantially uniquely tied to the requester,requester's user device, etc., for providing security, validation,and/or authentication. The result of such processing may be passed tothe requester in the form of a digital token (referred to herein as areturn shipment authorization token), such as may be provided as or withthe aforementioned return identification information and as may later beused with respect to generating return shipment documents herein.

Any or all of the foregoing information may be stored for use withrespect to the return shipment of items. For example, shippingmanagement system 111 may operate to store the foregoing information instorage 114, such as in a return authorization database having recordsindexed to or otherwise related to respective orders of one or moremerchant order database (e.g., as may also be stored in storage 114).

At block 206 of the illustrated embodiment, notification of the returnhaving been authorized is provided. For example, the aforementionedinterface provided by embodiments of shipping management system 111 mayoperate to present such a notification to the requester, such as inreal-time in response to the request, during a subsequent session wherethe requester accesses functionality of shipping management system 111,etc. Additionally or alternatively, such notification may be transmittedto the requester and/or others, such as using email, SMS, social media,etc. The notification may, for example, include information regardingthe determination that the item or order is eligible for return,information useful in facilitating the return shipping of the item(s)(e.g., substantially unique return identifier), etc. For example, thenotification and/or other communication associated therewith may includea link or other active element (e.g., software “button”) operable toinitiate functionality of shipping service provider system 111, postagesystem 112, etc. for facilitating return shipping.

Notification regarding the return authorization provided according toembodiments of the invention is not limited to initial notification ofthe authorization determination. One or more notification or othercommunication regarding the return authorization may be provided, forexample, to aid in timely return of authorized items. For example, logicof shipping management system 111 may operate to track returnauthorizations their initial determination through shipment of returnitems by a return shipper (e.g., purchaser or other original recipient),such as to ensure all return authorizations are acted upon. Embodimentsmay operate to provide reminder messages, status update information,etc. to either or both merchant/shipper personnel and therequester/return shipper.

At block 207 of the illustrated embodiment of flow 200, a request forgeneration of one or more documents used with respect to the authorizedreturn is made. A request for generation of documents of embodimentsmay, for example, be made by a purchaser or other recipient of an item(now the return shipper) preparing to initiate a return shipment. Therequest may include information for identifying the particular orderunder which an item for return was provided, the particular returnsender, the merchant to which the return is to be made, identifying thereturn authorization (e.g., substantially unique return identifier),etc., for facilitating processing of the request and/or for identifyinginformation to be utilized in generation of the return shipmentdocuments. Such return shipment document(s) may comprise various formsof documents and/or other data compilations useful in providing returnshipment of items. Return shipment documents generated according toembodiments may, for example, comprise shipping labels, postage indicia(or other proof of payment for shipping services), way bills, bills oflading, manifests, packing slips, RMA labels, customs forms, etc.

For example, embodiments operate to enable the recipient (now returnshipper) to generate a shipping label, having prepaid postage indiciathereon, and/or other documentation related to the return shipment.Accounts maintained with respect to postage system 112 by variousindividuals (shippers, purchasers, etc.) and/or other entities (e.g.,business entities, merchants, etc.) may be utilized to facilitate suchgeneration of postage indicia, whether individually, in batch, incombination with other documentation (e.g., shipping labels, bills oflading, manifests, customs documents, etc.), whether directly by theaccount holder or indirectly, by operation of shipping management system111 of embodiments. Additional information (e.g., user credentials)stored by, or in association with, shipping management system 111 and/orpostage system 112, may be utilized in facilitating the generation ofpostage indicia and/or other return shipment documents (e.g., the returnshipper may generate postage on the merchant's postage or other shippingaccount without being authenticated to that account).

In operation according to embodiments, the return shipper is enabled toperform functions that this individual does not otherwise possess theinfrastructure to do, to utilize information regarding the item and/ororder available to the shipping management system (e.g., theaforementioned rate ingredients) which the recipient would otherwise berequired to obtain and/or input to implement the operations, generatepostage indicia on behalf of a corresponding merchant or other originalshipper, etc. In particular, the return shipper may be enabled to accessappropriate information (e.g., data associated with the return shipper'soriginal order) of the merchant within shipping management system 111,utilize a postage account or other shipping account of the merchant(e.g., invoke functionality of postage system 112 on behalf of themerchant), and/or the like. Accordingly, the return shipment documentgeneration request may be validated or authenticated, such as throughprocessing at block 208 of the illustrated embodiment.

Return shipment document generation request validation and/orauthentication as provided at block 208 of the illustrated embodimentmay comprise analyzing information included in the request itself,analyzing information stored by or in association with shippingmanagement system 111, analyzing information stored in association withthe requester (e.g., purchaser or original recipient of the items), etc.For example, a return shipment document generation request may include asubstantially unique return identifier, information for facilitatingreturn shipping of items associated therewith, a return shipmentauthorization token, and/or other information useful in validating,authenticating, or otherwise processing the request.

If it is determined that the return shipment document generation requestis not valid, authentic, or is otherwise not to be granted (e.g., therecipient and/or associated order are not authorized to make a return,generation of return postage for the authorization has already beenperformed, etc.), processing according to the illustrated embodimentproceeds to block 209, wherein notification of the return shipmentdocument generation request not having been granted is provided. Forexample, the aforementioned interface provided by embodiments ofshipping management system 111 may operate to present such anotification to the requester, such as in real-time in response to therequest. Additionally or alternatively, such notification may betransmitted to the requester and/or others, such as using email, SMS,social media, etc. The notification may, for example, includeinformation regarding the determination that the request is not valid,authentic, grantable, etc. For example, where facilitating returnshipping as provided by embodiments comprises allowing a return shipperto generate postage indicia (e.g., a prepaid USPS return shipping label)on behalf of a merchant or other original shipper (e.g., to provide freereturn shipping to purchasers), the return authorization may bedetermined to no longer be valid where the postage indicia for thereturn has already been generated (e.g., the recipient/return shipperhas already accessed the system and generated return postage). In such asituation, the notification provided at block 209 may provideinformation explaining that the return postage has been previouslygenerated, and preferably operates to prevent generation of additionalreturn postage which would presumably result in one or more of thegenerated return postages going unused or fraudulently used.

The notification provided at block 209 of embodiments may additionallyor alternatively include information regarding alternative actions therequester may take with respect to the requested return shipmentdocument generation. For example, the notification of a failed requestmay provide information regarding technical support to attempt toresolve the issue prior to validating the request to generate shipmentdocuments (e.g., operation of embodiments may fail a shipping documentgeneration request until records indicate one or more pre-requisite,such as attempting technical support resolution, has been completed),etc. Where facilitating return shipping as provided by embodimentscomprises allowing a return shipper to generate postage indicia onbehalf of a merchant or other original shipper, the notification mayinclude information (e.g., a URL or other link, instructions, etc.) forfacilitating the reprinting of the previously generated postage indicia(e.g., to accommodate a printer error, etc.). Additionally oralternatively, such a notification may include information (e.g., a URLor other link, instructions, etc.) for facilitating cancelling thepreviously generated postage indicia, and possibly for facilitating theregeneration of postage indicia (e.g., to provide for correcting one ormore aspect thereof, etc.).

If, however, it is determined at block 208 that the return shipmentdocument generation request is valid and/or authentic and is to begranted (e.g., the recipient and/or associated order are authorized tomake a return, generation of return postage for the authorization hasnot already been performed, etc.), processing according to theillustrated embodiment proceeds to block 210, wherein one or more returnshipment documents are generated. For example, the aforementionedinterface provided by embodiments of shipping management system 111 mayoperate to provide access to functionality for the generation of returnshipping labels, the generation of postage indicia (or other proof ofpayment for return shipping services), etc. for use with respect to theauthorized return shipments. Accordingly, functionality which may nototherwise be readily available to the return shipper may be madeaccessible for use by the return shipper through shipping managementsystem 111 of embodiments. Additionally or alternatively, informationutilized with respect to the return shipment (e.g., the particulars ofthe item being returned, such as weight), which are available in or toshipping management system 111, may be utilized by the aforementionedfunctionality to thereby further make the return process more convenientto the return shipper.

In operation according to embodiments, generation of return shippingdocuments by shipping management system 111 provides for the generationof prepaid postage indicia (e.g., whether as individual postage indicia,shipping labels including postage indicia, etc.) by a return shipper.For example, shipping management system 111 may interface with one ormore other systems, such as postage system 112, operable to perform orotherwise facilitate prepaid postage generation. In accordance withembodiments, postage system 112 is operable to provide prepaid postageaccount and postage indicia generation, services (e.g., to generatepostage indicia, shipping labels, etc. acceptable by the USPS and/orother shipping service providers). Credentials for accessing aparticular account and generating postage indicia therefrom may beprovided by or through shipping management system 111 to postage system112.

Embodiments of the invention provide for some or all fees (e.g., theshipping service provider fees, such as return postage) for such returnshipping by a return shipper to be borne by the merchant (now the returnrecipient). For example, shipping management system 111 may be adaptedto allow the return shipper of a return authorized by the returnrecipient to generate a shipping label on behalf of the return recipient(e.g., utilizing a prepaid postage account of the merchant/returnrecipient), thereby providing practicable free return shipping from thepurchaser/return shipper's point of view. Such operation allows even asmall merchant to provide services competitive with much largermerchants in a way which is manageable and does not require generationof large amounts of unused postage.

In operation according to embodiments, where a return shipper isauthorized to generate return postage indicia at the merchant's (returnrecipient) expense, shipping management system 111 may store and passappropriate credentials for the merchant's postage account to postagesystem 112 without ever exposing those credentials to the returnshipper. Moreover, through the validation/authentication processingprovided according to embodiments, the return shipper is prevented fromimproperly accessing, or otherwise abusing access to, the merchant'spostage account. For example, the aforementioned return shipment tokenmay not only be used to validate the return shipper as having beenauthorized for the return shipment, but may also be utilized to identifythe request for generation of return shipping documents to theparticular merchant's (now return recipient) records including, prepaidpostage account credentials.

Using the merchant's prepaid postage account credentials, perhaps withappropriate information regarding the return shipment (e.g., as may beprovided using order information available to shipping management system111), postage system 112 may operate to generate postage indicia (e.g.,alone or with/within other documentation, such as a shipping label) andprovide the generated return shipping document(s) to shipping managementsystem 111 for use by/with respect to the return shipper. Some or all ofthe information regarding the return shipment may be provided as part ofthe aforementioned rate ingredients (i.e., information from which areturn shipping rate is determined), such as may comprise the weight ofitems being returned, the address of the return shipper, shipping mediainformation, information regarding the particular item(s) beingreturned, information regarding the particular shipping service to beutilized with respect to the return shipment, etc.

It should be appreciated that the aforementioned operation according toembodiments operates to decouple generation or establishing of some orall of the rate ingredients from which postage rates are determined andthe actual generation of the postage for which the rates apply. Forexample, embodiments where the merchant provides for authorization ofreturn shipping at or near the time of the original shipment to theoriginal recipient (such as to include information regarding returnshipping in the shipping notification and/or tracking informationcommunications), the compiling of rate ingredients for at leastinitially establishing or predicting a rate or the merchant's obligationfor the return shipping may be performed days, weeks, or even monthsbefore the actual shipping documents (e.g., as may include prepaidpostage indicia) are generated. Even where the return shippingauthorization is provided in response to an ad hoc request for return bythe recipient, the generation of rate ingredients may be decoupled fromthe generation of the corresponding shipping documents by a matter ofdays or even weeks.

Such decoupling of establishing rate ingredients from the generation ofthe shipping documents may introduce challenges with respect to thegeneration of appropriate prepaid postage indicia. For example, thisdecoupling according to some embodiments may result in separate personsor other entities (e.g., merchant and recipient) each performing aportion of the operations typically performed by a single person orentity for processing a shipment. The interests, skill levels, etc. ofthe separate persons or entities involved in a particular returnshipping transaction may not be aligned or otherwise inconsistent,possibly leading to or allowing undesired results. Thus, in operationaccording to embodiments, the rate ingredients, or some portion thereof,may be established by and/or rendered fixed (e.g., stored in a databaseof storage 114 as unchangeable to the return shipper) by the merchant(now return recipient), such as prevent the return shipper from makingchanges (e.g., selecting a particular shipping services, entering anerroneously high shipping weight for the item, selecting a shippingservice provider having higher fees for the needed shipping service,etc.) which undesirably increase the merchant's costs for the returnshipment. Additionally or alternatively, the fixing of the rateingredients, or some portion thereof, may be utilized to prevent aputative return shipper from misusing the return shipping authorizationto instead prepare shipping documents for shipping items to someoneother than the merchant or their designees. Accordingly, although in thedecoupled return postage operation of embodiments empowers a returnshipper to generate prepaid postage shipping documents utilizing anaccount of the merchant (now return recipient), rate ingredientsutilized in the generation of such shipping documents (e.g., as may beaccessed via shipping management system 111) may nevertheless beestablished by and protected for the merchant. Thus, the merchant isable to offer free return shipping from the vantage point of a purchaser(now return shipper) with little or no risk that the return shippingdocuments will be inappropriately generated or improperly used.

The availability of or amount of account balances maintained by or onbehalf of a merchant is a further example of challenges which may beintroduced in light of decoupling of establishing rate ingredients fromthe generation of the shipping documents according to some embodiments.For example, when establishing rate ingredients for a particular returnshipment, and authorizing the return shipment having a particularshipping service provider fee to be incurred by the merchant for thereturn shipment, the then-current state of the merchant's postage orother account may be such that the return shipping may be accommodated.For example, a prepaid account balance (e.g., a USPS prepaid postagemeter account) may have sufficient prepaid funds to facilitategeneration of postage indicia for the return shipment in accordance withthe rate ingredients. Similarly, a postpaid account balance (e.g., a UPSor FedEx merchant account balance) may be sufficiently low so as toaccommodate accruing a postpaid fee debit to facilitate generation ofpostage indicia for the return shipment in accordance with the rateingredients. For example, the processing provided at block 202 and/orblock 205 of embodiments may operate to verify an appropriate accountbalance of the merchant for the return shipping to be and/or having beenauthorized. However, as the shipping documents and/or actual shippingservices are decoupled from establishing the rate ingredients andauthorizing the return shipping, the corresponding account may not bedebited until the return sender generates the shipping documents and/orutilizes the return shipping service, according to embodiments.Additionally or alternatively, complications with respect to the ratesdetermined at the different times may be presented, such as due to achange in the rate tables utilized by the shipping service providers, achange in shipping service offerings, etc. Accordingly, embodiments areadapted to accommodate changes in the rates to be incurred for returnshipping services and/or the merchants' accounts to be utilized forfacilitating the return shipping services. Embodiments of the inventionmay, for example, operate to determine or re-determine the rate to beincurred by the merchant (now return recipient) at some time after themerchant has authorized the return shipment and implement appropriateaction(s).

As an example of adaptation to accommodate changes in the merchants'accounts, when a return shipper is requesting generation of returnshipment documents (block 207) and/or generating return shipmentdocuments (block 210), shipping management system 111 may operate todetermine the rate for the corresponding shipping services and initiateappropriate action where the determined rate cannot be accommodated byan appropriate merchant shipping service account. For example, if a USPSprepaid postage account does not include sufficient funds to allowgeneration of prepaid postage indicia for the return shipment,embodiments of the invention may implement an auto refill operation toadd prepaid value to the account. In operation according to embodiments,shipping management system 111 may store merchant credentials forinteraction with postage system 112 in order to generate postage indiciaand other shipping documents for the merchant (e.g., for outboundshipment of items to purchasers), whereby these credentials may beutilized in adding value to one or more of the merchant's prepaidpostage accounts in order to facilitate generation of shipping documentsfor use with respect to authorized return shipment. In particular, inoperation according to embodiments, an auto-funding feature may beprovided whereby shipping management system 111 will automatically addfunds to the merchant's postage meter account when needed to generatepostage indicia for an authorized return shipment and/or when a balanceof that account falls below a certain threshold (e.g., when a postagemeter account balance falls below a predetermined threshold, such as$25.00, a transfer of a pre-established refill amount, such as $100.00,may be initiated, such as using a credit card or automatic checkconversion transaction on behalf of the merchant).

Embodiments may alternatively be adapted to avoid changes in themerchants' accounts which would prevent or otherwise interfere with thegeneration of shipping documents by a return shipper for an authorizedreturn shipment. For example, embodiments of the invention may implementa funds reservation technique whereby an amount determined toaccommodate the shipping services rate for an authorized return shipmentare reserved (e.g., held as not available for use in another shippingtransaction) until the corresponding shipping documents are generated,the shipping services are initiated, or the return shippingauthorization is expired. Details with respect to account balancereservation techniques as may be implemented in accordance withembodiments of the invention are shown and described in the abovereferenced patent application entitled “SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR VALUEBEARING INDICIA BALANCE RESERVATION.”

An example of adaptation to accommodate changes in the rates, when areturn shipper is requesting generation of return shipment documents(block 207) and/or generating return shipment documents (block 210),shipping management system 111 may operate to determine the rate for thecorresponding shipping services and initiate appropriate action wherethe determined rate is not within acceptable bounds. For example, therate may be re-determined when the return shipper requests generation ofreturn shipment documents (block 207) and the re-determined rate may becompared with a rate determined when the merchant authorized the returnshipment (block 202), whereby if the re-determined rate is not the sameor differs by more than some threshold amount (e.g., a particular dollaramount established by the merchant, a percentage, such as 10% or 20%,established by the merchant, etc.) the request for generation of returnshipment documents may not be validated (block 208). As another example,the rate may initially be determined when the return shipper requestsgeneration of return shipment documents (block 207) and the determinedrate may be compared with an expected rate or approved rate authorizedby the merchant (e.g., the merchant may establish approved rate ranges,such as may be particular dollar amounts, percentages of item value,etc., for types of items, the individual or types of originalrecipients, the type of shipping service utilized for the originaldelivery, etc.), whereby if the determined rate is not within theexpected or approved rate range the request for generation of returnshipment documents may not be validated (block 208). In suchembodiments, further processing may be provided to notify the merchantand allow the merchant to override the validation determination, selecta different shipping service to result in the rate meeting themerchant's goals, etc.

It should be appreciated that the generation of return shipmentdocuments according to embodiments of the invention is not limited topostage indicia generated at the expense of a merchant receiving thereturn shipment. For example, embodiments of shipping management system111 may be adapted to facilitate the return shipper generating postageindicia at their own expense, or partially at their own expense (e.g.,where the merchant only bears a portion of the cost, such as where thereturn shipper requests added shipping services, upgraded shippingservices, etc.), whether or not the return shipper maintains a postageaccount themselves. For example, shipping management system 111 mayenable a return shipper to provide their credentials for their ownpostage account at postage system 112, whereby those credentials alongwith appropriate information regarding the return shipment (e.g., as maybe provided using order information available to shipping managementsystem 111) may be provided to postage system 112 for generation ofappropriate postage indicia at the return shipper's expense.Alternatively, shipping management system 111 may make the foregoinggeneration of postage indicia available to the return shipper, wherebythe return shipper makes payment for any fees involved without thereturn shipper having a prepaid account for doing so (e.g., by directcredit card or automatic check conversion, such as using an ACHtransaction).

The return shipment documents generated by operation at block 210 ofembodiments may be provided to the return shipper in a number of ways.For example, embodiments of shipping management system 111 may utilizeone or more computing resource local to the return shipper to print oneor more return shipping documents (e.g., a local printer such asrepresented by computing resources 130A and 130B), as may be facilitatedaccording to the techniques shown and described in the above referencedpatent application entitled “SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR CLOUD-BASEDAPPLICATION ACCESS TO RESOURCES.” Additionally or alternatively,embodiments of shipping management system 111 may store generated returnshipping documents (e.g., in a database of storage 114) and provideaccess to such documents to the return shipper (e.g., via a clientoperable upon a user device, such as any of user devices 120A-120D,utilized by the return shipper), such as using a URL or other link.Providing such storage and controlling access to generated returnshipping documents may not only facilitate initial printing of thedocuments by the return shipper, but may also be utilized forfacilitating the controlled reprinting of the previously generatedpostage indicia (e.g., to accommodate a printer error, etc.).

It should be appreciated that generation of return shipment documentsand/or the printing or other utilization of generated return shipmentdocuments may be controlled (e.g., at blocks 207, 208, and/or 210) inaccordance with information regarding an expiration of the returnauthorization (e.g., return expiration information). For example, whendetermining the validity of a request to generate return shipmentdocuments at block 208 of embodiments, return expiration information forthe authorized return shipment may be analyzed to determine if anexpiration time or window in which the return authorization is valid hastranspired. Additionally or alternatively, when performing operation togenerate return shipment documents, to print generated return shipmentdocuments, to reprint generated return shipment documents, etc. at block210 of embodiments, return expiration information for the authorizedreturn shipment may be analyzed to determine if an expiration time orwindow in which the return authorization is valid has transpired. Wheresuch return expiration information for the authorized return shipmentindicates that an expiration time or window in which the returnauthorization is valid has transpired, operation according toembodiments may prevent generation, printing, reprinting, or likeoperations with respect to the return shipment documents. Such operationmay halt further processing with respect to the return shipment, or mayprovide additional processing in order to attempt to resolve the issue,such as to imitate a renewed request for return authorization. Forexample, where operation to generate return shipment documents at block210 provides a URL for printing the generated documents (e.g., ashipping label having prepaid postage indicia thereon), instructionsprovided regarding the use of the URL may indicate that the generateddocuments are to expire if unused within a certain time (e.g., 7 daysafter generation, 7 days after authorization of the return shipment bythe merchant, etc.), whereby if the return shipper attempts to print orotherwise utilize the return shipment documents (e.g., clicks on theURL) after the expiration date an error message is returned to say thereturn shipping documents are no longer available.

Although above examples have been described with reference to the returnshipment documents being generated in response to a request by thereturn shipper, it should be appreciated that operation in accordancewith the concepts herein is not limited to the particular order ofevents provided in the foregoing examples. For example, embodiments ofthe invention may provide for generation of return shipment documentsupon authorization of the return shipment by the merchant (e.g.,generating a shipping label having prepaid postage indicia at block205). In such embodiments, the return shipper may be provided access tothe generated return shipment documents (e.g., as URLs or other links asmay be provided at block 206), whereby the return shipper may thereafterinitiate printing or otherwise utilize the return shipping documents(e.g., printing a shipping label for the return shipment at block 210).

It should be appreciated that the return shipping management providedaccording to embodiments of the invention is not limited to theaforementioned exemplary return shipping request/approval management andreturn shipping document generation/printing. Return shipping managementfunctionality for managing returns of the embodiment of flow 200illustrated in FIG. 2 provides monitoring of postage indicia or shippinglabels generated by a return shipper at block 211. For example, thereturn shipment management provided at block 211 of embodiments mayprovide monitoring with respect to generated postage indicia, or otherreturn shipment documents, to confirm their use by a return shipper. Inoperation according to embodiments, shipping management system mayinteract with shipping service provider system 113 to determine if areturn shipment document for a particular return has been initiallyscanned or has otherwise been introduced into the services of theshipping service provider (e.g., introduction into the mail stream), andthus the return shipment document is or has been utilized. If it isdetermined that the return shipment documents have not been utilized,such as within some return shipping window of time (e.g., returnexpiration time), shipping management system 111 of embodiments mayinitiate one or more action, such as to notify the return shipper and/ormerchant, cancel any prepaid postage indicia (e.g., perform refundprocessing to allow the merchant/return recipient to recover theotherwise unused postage value), etc. Additionally or alternatively,such monitoring may be provided by shipping management system 111 ofembodiments to enable the merchant to monitor the extent of returnshipping postage value authorized and/or actually generated, to monitorthe items designated for return, to track return shipments while inroute by the shipping service providers, to monitor receipt of returnitems, etc., and/or to analyze data associated with any or all of theforegoing to provide robust reporting and analysis with respect thereto.Techniques as may be utilized in providing tracking of return shipmentsin accordance with embodiments of the present invention are shown anddescribed in the above referenced patent application entitled “SYSTEMSAND METHODS IMPLEMENTING AUTOMATED SHIPMENT STATUS TRACKING.”

It should be appreciated that various operations of flow 200 may beprovided according to embodiments even where a request for returnauthorization is not authorized and/or where a request for generation ofreturn shipment documents is not validated. As previously mentioned, forexample, denial of return authorization according to embodiments of theinvention may not mean that the recipient (putative return shipper) maynot return the item, but rather that return shipment will not be free tothe recipient. Accordingly, various of the above described operations(e.g., the establishing of information for facilitating return shippingat block 205 and generation of return shipment documents at block 210)may nevertheless be performed to facilitate return shipping at thereturn shipper's expense. Further, operation to enable the merchant tomonitor the items designated for return, to track return shipments whilein route by the shipping service providers, to monitor receipt of returnitems, etc., and/or to analyze data associated with any or all of theforegoing to provide robust reporting and analysis with respect thereto(e.g., the return shipment management at block 204) may be performed.

Although embodiments have been described herein with reference to returnof items to a merchant or other designated source agent, return shippingfacilitated according to embodiments of the invention may provideshipment of items to any number of return recipients. For example, amerchant may provide for return shipping of items directly to amanufacturer, a repair depot, a remanufacturing/refurbishment facility,etc. Likewise, the return shipping may be provided by an entity otherthan the merchant which originally provided the items to the returnshipper. For example, a manufacturer may provide return shipping undertheir warranty program using the techniques described herein.

Although the present invention and its advantages have been described indetail, it should be understood that various changes, substitutions andalterations can be made herein without departing from the spirit andscope of the invention as defined by the appended claims. Moreover, thescope of the present application is not intended to be limited to theparticular embodiments of the process, machine, manufacture, compositionof matter, means, methods and steps described in the specification. Asone of ordinary skill in the art will readily appreciate from thedisclosure of the present invention, processes, machines, manufacture,compositions of matter, means, methods, or steps, presently existing orlater to be developed that perform substantially the same function orachieve substantially the same result as the corresponding embodimentsdescribed herein may be utilized according to the present invention.Accordingly, the appended claims are intended to include within theirscope such processes, machines, manufacture, compositions of matter,means, methods, or steps.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method of controlling generation of a returnshipment document in a shipping management system to prevent a returnshipper from improperly generating or improperly using the returnshipment document, the method comprising: establishing, under control oflogic of the shipping management system, rate ingredients for subsequentgeneration of at least one return shipment document for return shippingof an item, wherein the rate ingredients include information regardingphysical attributes of the item stored by the shipping managementsystem, wherein establishing the rate ingredients comprises: storing, ina database of the shipping management system, at least one rateingredient of the rate ingredients as an unchangeable rate ingredient,wherein the at least one unchangeable rate ingredient is unchangeable inthe database with respect to a return shipper client application suchthat the return shipper is prevented from changing the at least oneunchangeable rate ingredient; and storing, in the database of theshipping management system, at least one other rate ingredient of therate ingredients as a changeable rate ingredient, wherein the at leastone changeable rate ingredient is changeable in the database withrespect to the return shipper client application such that the returnshipper is allowed to specify a value for the at least one changeablerate ingredient; providing, to a device used to generate a request forat least one return shipment document, a return shipment authorizationtoken uniquely associated with the device, wherein the return shipmentauthorization token is configured to authenticate the request;receiving, subsequent to the establishing the rate ingredients andproviding the return shipment authorization token, the request togenerate the at least one return shipment document, wherein the requestincludes the return shipment authorization token; determining, based atleast in part on the at least one unchangeable rate ingredient and theat least one changeable rate ingredient, a rate for the return shippingof the item; in response to receiving the request and the returnshipment authorization token, generating the at least one returnshipment document based on the determined rate for the return shippingof the item, wherein the establishing the rate ingredients forsubsequent generation of the at least one return shipment document andthe generating the at least one return shipment document are decoupled,wherein the at least one return shipment document is generated using anaccount of a return recipient to provide the return shipping of the itemat the return recipient's expense; causing the return shipper clientapplication to print the at least one return shipment document local tothe return shipper, the at least one return shipment document beingsufficient to establish proof of payment to a shipping service providerfor the return shipping of the item by the return recipient;automatically monitoring the at least one return shipment documentgenerated by the return shipper using the account of the returnrecipient in the shipping management system to determine whether the atleast one return shipment document is utilized by the return shipperwithin a time frame; and upon determining that at least one returnshipment document has not been utilized within the time frame,initiating, by the shipping management system, a refund process torecover unused postage value associated with the at least one returnshipment document.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least onereturn shipment document comprises prepaid postage indicia and thereturn recipient account comprises a prepaid postage meter account. 3.The method of claim 2, wherein the at least one return shipment documentcomprises a shipping label.
 4. The method of claim 3, furthercomprising: utilizing information, stored by the shipping managementsystem, regarding an order for the item by the return shipper topopulate at least one field of the shipping label when generating the atleast one return shipment document.
 5. The method of claim 1, furthercomprising: authorizing the return shipping at the return recipient'sexpense using the rate ingredients.
 6. The method of claim 1, whereinthe establishing the rate ingredients and the generating the at leastone return shipment document are decoupled in performance such that thereturn recipient establishes the rate ingredients and the return shipperinitiates generation of the at least one return shipment document. 7.The method of claim 1, wherein the establishing the rate ingredients andthe generating the at least one return shipment document are decoupledin time such that the establishing the rate ingredients precedes thegenerating the at least one return shipping document by at least oneday.
 8. The method of claim 5, further comprising: determining if therate, as provided using the rate ingredients, for the return shipping ofthe item determined when authorizing the return shipping differs from arate, as provided using the rate ingredients, for the return shipping ofthe item determined when a request is made for the generating at leastone return shipment document.
 9. The method of claim 8, wherein thegenerating the at least one return shipment document comprises: if it isdetermined that the rate for the return shipping of the item determinedwhen authorizing the return shipping differs from the rate for thereturn shipping of the item determined when the request is made for thegenerating at least one return shipment document, generating the atleast one return shipment document using the rate for the returnshipping of the item determined when the request is made for thegenerating at least one return shipment document.
 10. The method ofclaim 5, wherein the generating the at least one return shipmentdocument for return shipping of the item comprises: determining thatsufficient funds are available through the return recipient account forthe at least one return shipment document; and in response todetermining that sufficient funds are not available through the returnrecipient account for the at least one return shipment document,initiating an automated refill transaction with respect to the returnrecipient account.
 11. The method of claim 10, wherein the authorizingthe return shipping at the return recipient's expense comprises:determining that sufficient funds are available through the returnrecipient account for the return shipping of the item.
 12. The method ofclaim 1, further comprising: providing, under control of logic of theshipping management system, tracking of a return shipment of the itemusing information of the at least one return shipment document.
 13. Themethod of claim 1, wherein the return shipper comprises a purchaser ofan item from a merchant, and wherein the return recipient comprises themerchant, whereby the return shipping of the item to the merchant isprovided to the purchaser at no cost to the purchaser.
 14. A system forcontrolling generation of a return shipment document to prevent a returnshipper from improperly generating or improperly using the returnshipment document, the system comprising: at least one databaseaccessible to a shipping management logic and storing rate ingredientsfor subsequent generation of at least one return shipment document for areturn shipment of an item; and the shipping management logic operableto: establish the rate ingredients, wherein establishing the rateingredients comprises: storing, in the at least one database of thesystem, at least one rate ingredient of the rate ingredients as anunchangeable rate ingredient, wherein the at least one unchangeable rateingredient is unchangeable with respect to the return shipper such thatthe return shipper is prevented from changing the at least oneunchangeable rate ingredient; storing, in the at least one database, atleast one other rate ingredient of the rate ingredients as a changeablerate ingredient, wherein the at least one changeable rate ingredient ischangeable with respect to the return shipper such that the returnshipper is allowed to specify a value for the at least one changeablerate ingredient; provide, to a device used to generate a request for atleast one return shipment document, a return shipment authorizationtoken uniquely associated with the device, wherein the return shipmentauthorization token is configured to authenticate the request; receive,subsequent to establishing the rate ingredients and providing the returnshipment authorization token, the request to generate the at least onereturn shipment document, wherein the request includes the returnshipment authorization token; determine, based at least in part on theat least one unchangeable rate ingredient and the at least onechangeable rate ingredient, a rate for the return shipping of the item;in response to receipt of the request and the return shipmentauthorization token, generate the at least one return shipment documentbased on the determined rate for the return shipping of the item,wherein the establishment of the rate ingredients for subsequentgeneration of the at least one return shipment document and thegeneration of the at least one return shipment document are temporallydecoupled, wherein the at least one return shipment document isgenerated using an account of a return recipient to provide the returnshipping at the return recipient's expense; print the at least onereturn shipment document local to the return shipper, the printed atleast one return shipment document being sufficient to establish proofof payment to a shipping service provider for the return shipment of theitem by the return recipient; and automatically monitor the at least onereturn shipment document generated by the return shipper using theaccount of the return recipient in the system to determine whether theat least one return shipment document is utilized by the return shipperwithin a time frame; and in response to the determination that at leastone return shipment document has not been utilized within the timeframe, initiate a refund process to recover unused postage valueassociated with the at least one return shipment document.
 15. Thesystem of claim 14, wherein the at least one return shipment documentcomprises prepaid postage indicia and the return recipient accountcomprises a prepaid postage meter account.
 16. The system of claim 15,further comprising: an application programming interface (API) operableto provide data exchange between the shipping management logic and apostage system, whereby the shipping management logic is operable topass credentials of the return recipient for the prepaid postage meteraccount to the postage system to generate the at least one returnshipment document for the return shipper.
 17. The system of claim 15,wherein the at least one return shipment document comprises a shippinglabel.
 18. The system of claim 17, further comprising: an order databaseaccessible to the shipping management logic and storing informationregarding an order for the item by the return shipper, whereby theshipping management logic is operable to populate at least one field ofthe shipping label utilizing information regarding the order for theitem from the order database.
 19. The system of claim 14, wherein theshipping management logic is further operable to initiate an automatedrefill transaction with respect to the return recipient account whensufficient funds are not otherwise available through the returnrecipient account for the at least one return shipment document.
 20. Thesystem of claim 14, further comprising: an application programminginterface (API) operable to provide data exchange between the shippingmanagement logic and a shipping service provider system, whereby theshipping management logic is operable to pass information of the atleast one return shipment document to the shipping service providersystem to obtain tracking information for the return shipment of theitem.
 21. The system of claim 14, wherein the return shipper comprises apurchaser of an item from a merchant, and wherein the return recipientcomprises the merchant, whereby the return shipping of the item to themerchant is provided to the purchaser at no cost to the purchaser. 22.The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one unchangeable rateingredient includes information specifying at least one of: a shippingservice type, a shipping weight, a shipping package size, and a shippingservice provider, and wherein the at least one changeable rateingredient includes information specifying at least an address of thereturn shipper.
 23. The system of claim 14, wherein the at least oneunchangeable rate ingredient includes information specifying at leastone of: a shipping service type, a shipping weight, a shipping packagesize, and a shipping service provider, and wherein the at least onechangeable rate ingredient includes information specifying at least anaddress of the return shipper.
 24. The method of claim 1, wherein the atleast one unchangeable rate ingredient comprises a rate ingredientassociated with a weight of the item.
 25. The system of claim 14,wherein the at least one unchangeable rate ingredient comprises a rateingredient associated with a weight of the item.